Editing Structure of a quantitative empirical research paper
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=== Introduction === | === Introduction === | ||
Your introduction should be short: not more than 2-3 pages and 5-6 paragraphs. Your introduction should only seek to do three things | Your introduction should be short: not more than 2-3 pages and 5-6 paragraphs. Your introduction should only seek to do three things: | ||
# Introduce and motivate your work. | # Introduce and motivate your work. | ||
# Establish the importance, relevance, and impact of your work | # Establish the importance, relevance, and impact of your work providing a clear answer to the question, "Why should a reader care?" | ||
# | # In the final paragraph, lay out the organization of the rest of the paper. | ||
=== Background === | === Background === | ||
There is more general advice on the topic of writing an introduction and background section [[CommunityData:Advice on writing a background section to an academic paper|elsewhere on the wiki]] but, given a solid introduction that does its job, your background section should only needs to do two additional things: | There is more general advice on the topic of writing an introduction and background section\ [[CommunityData:Advice on writing a background section to an academic paper|elsewhere on the wiki]] but, given a solid introduction that does its job, your background section should only needs to do two additional things: | ||
# Define the terms you'll be using in your study. | # Define the terms you'll be using in your study. | ||
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;Research Ethics: Describe any ethical issues related to this work. For example, this is a place to describe the process through which you got IRB approval to carry out your research. If your work does not require IRB approval, say this and explain how your work minimizes risks to the human subjects whose data is captured in your dataset. | ;Research Ethics: Describe any ethical issues related to this work. For example, this is a place to describe the process through which you got IRB approval to carry out your research. If your work does not require IRB approval, say this and explain how your work minimizes risks to the human subjects whose data is captured in your dataset. | ||
;Procedures: Describe the process that you used to collect your data. Detail choices you made along the way that include or excluded any data. This doesn't need to be a diary of everything you tried but it ''should'' be comprehensive enough for someone to reproduce your dataset given access to the same material and setting that you had. | ;Procedures: Describe the process that you used to collect your data. Detail choices you made along the way that include or excluded any data. This doesn't need to be a diary of everything you tried but it ''should'' be comprehensive enough for someone to reproduce your dataset given access to the same material and setting that you had. | ||
;Measures: Describe every variable you included in your analysis and model and describe how it was constructed and/or coded. It usually makes sense to start with dependent variables, then focus on question predictors, and finally talk about control variables. Often it makes sense to use a table to organize this information. This section must establish your ''variable names'', your ''variable definitions'', and your ''value codings''. | |||
;Measures: Describe every variable you included in your analysis and model and describe how it was constructed and/or coded. It usually makes sense to start with dependent variables, then focus on question predictors, and finally talk about control variables. Often it makes sense to use a table to organize this information. This section must establish your ''variable names'', your ''variable definitions'', and your ''value codings''. This is an appropriate place to include your tables of univariate and bivariate statistics for all of the variables in your model. | ;Sample: Describe your sample. This will include the number of observations in your sample but also any other details or summary statistics that help us understand the nature of the sample you have collected. This is an appropriate place to include your tables of univariate and bivariate statistics for all of the variables in your model. | ||
;Analytic Plan: The analytic plan should detail all the of the analyses that you performed. You should mention what type of model you used and you should explain why you believe it is the appropriate method. Typically, this includes specifying the regression model that you've used. You should include the regression equation (e.g. <math>\widehat{\mathrm{your~DV}} = \beta_0 + \beta_1\mathrm{your~IV} + \varepsilon</math>). | ;Analytic Plan: The analytic plan should detail all the of the analyses that you performed. You should mention what type of model you used and you should explain why you believe it is the appropriate method. Typically, this includes specifying the regression model that you've used. You should include the regression equation (e.g. <math>\widehat{\mathrm{your~DV}} = \beta_0 + \beta_1\mathrm{your~IV} + \varepsilon</math>). | ||
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As you write the section, walk folks through the substantive takeaways from your results. Explain how these results support, or provide evidence that fails to support, your hypotheses. Be very explicit. | As you write the section, walk folks through the substantive takeaways from your results. Explain how these results support, or provide evidence that fails to support, your hypotheses. Be very explicit. | ||
=== Threats to Validity | === Threats to Validity (or Limitations) === | ||
=== Discussion === | === Discussion === | ||
=== Bibliography === | === Bibliography === | ||
== Tables == | == Tables == | ||
== Credit == | == Credit == | ||
Much of this material is drawn and adapted from John B. Willett's "Structure of a Scholarly Research Paper." | Much of this material is drawn and adapted from John B. Willett's "Structure of a Scholarly Research Paper." |